1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an American football, and more particularly to an American football supported with air layer which increase the softness of the American football with lower manufacturing cost.
2. Description of Related Arts
American football is one of the most popular sports in United States. The conventional American football generally comprises a hollow outer ball carcass and an inflatable bladder disposed within the ball carcass for propping up the ball carcass after inflation. The inflatable bladder can be made of rubber or polyurethane when leather made ball carcass is used. The ball carcass of the American football comprises a plurality of cover pieces sewn edge to edge together to form an ellipsoidal shape. Each of the cover pieces comprises an outer cover skin and an inner lining for supporting between the outer cover skin and the inflatable rubber bladder. One of the most common materials of the outer cover skin is leather. Synthetic leather, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyurethane (PU), is another common material for the outer cover skin because of its toughness nature that is more suitable for sewing.
The inner lining of the conventional American football can be made of woven fabric, such as twilled nylon, cotton or other mixing material such as TC, TR. It is well known that the conventional American football is quite stiff to grip, catch, and hold. It is because the inner lining must be strong enough to support the softer outer cover skin to tolerate impact and retain the ellipsoidal shape of the American football. However, it may fails to provide the softness of the American football.
In order to fit different types of playground and different ages of players, different types of American football with different levels of softness and stiffness must be made. For example, the American football for junior players may have softer ball carcass and the American football for professional players may have stiffer ball carcass. So, an alternative is sought for.
An improved American football has found that the outer cover skin of the ball carcass has increased its thickness in order to provide the softness of the American football. However, even by increasing of the thickness of the outer cover skin, the desired softability of the American football cannot be reached but the cost of the American football will be relatively expensive.
Other American football comprises a cushion layer made of foam material attached between the outer cover skin and the inner lining for providing the softness of the American football. However, the manufacturing cost of incorporating the cushion layer with the American football will be increase.
A main object of the present invention is to provide an American football supported with air layer which increase the softness of the American football with lower manufacturing cost.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an American football supported with air layer, which has a softer feeling to reduce the painful during ball passing and catching, especially suitable for children, training players and amateur players.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an American football supported with air layer which can reduce the impact force between the player and the football, so as to prevent an unwanted injure of the player hit by the impact force while receiving the football. Thus, the air layer tolerates more impact on the American football so as to retain the ellipsoidal shape of the American football.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an American football supported with air layer, which does not requires to alter the original structural design of the conventional football, so as to maintain the stiffness of the conventional football.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an American football wherein the stiffness and softness of the football can be designated by adjusting the volume of air of the air layer, so that different types of American football with different levels of softness and stiffness can easily be made for fitting different types of playground and different ages of players.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides an American football, which comprises a ball cover having a valve hole thereon and an inflatable bladder disposed within the ball cover for propping up the ball cover after inflation.
The inflatable bladder has a predetermined shape and a valve stem mounted thereon and extended through the valve hole of the ball cover. The ball cover comprises four elliptical cover pieces sewn edge to edge together. Each of the cover pieces comprises an outer elliptical cover skins made of leather or synthetic leather, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyurethane (PU), an elliptical inner lining for supporting between the outer cover skin and the inflatable bladder, and an air layer disposed between the outer cover skin and the inner lining wherein the air layer has a predetermined volume of air provided therein for increasing the elasticity of the outer cover skin.